I'm impressed with Angelina Jolie's decision to have a double mastectomy to drastically reduce her chances of getting breast cancer. Guess she's a true Amazon at heart...

Of course, she is lucky today's advances in medicine mean they were able to begin her breast reconstruction at the same time of the initial surgery.

And thrice blessed to have the money to afford the treatment.

I read a number of articles on it today, and this one from WebMD probably did the best at explaining the whole decision process.

Amazingly I first read about the BRCA 1 and 2 mutations in a novel I read several years ago. Possibly it was a book by Michael Crichton, but I don't recall the title.

But here's another article on BRCA genetic testing.

Anyone have thoughts on this topic they'd like to share?

Nice she can afford that. But those who cannot...then what?

Are you talking about affording the testing, Di? Because, you are correct, it is enormously expensive.

I ran into some interesting information on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 tests when I was searching for the author and title of that book I vaguely remember reading a few years ago, that first introduced me to the term "BRCA" - which stands for BReast CAncer

Apparently the reason the BRCA1 and BRCA2 tests are so costly is that a company called Myriad Genetics somehow owns the patent on this gene - as well as the BRCA tests.

I know, that sounds fantastic, and I'm not sure the courts will allow this to continue, but according to this recent article from Forbes magazine it does seem that at this moment, the CEO of Myriad somehow owns the BRCA gene, and the diagnostic tests to confirm whether or not anyone has breast cancer.

If I'm not understanding this quite right, I certainly welcome anyone who has a better understanding to step up and explain it here.

Meanwhile, according to this web site, SOME insurance companies will cover the cost for the test. And there are some recourses available should one not have insurance, or if your insurance does not cover the test. Check the article for details -- but in short, one option is to get enrolled into a clinical trial, and another is to seek assistance through resources such as the Susan B. Komen foundation.

Here's another fascinating article on the BRCA situation.

I know nothing about the source publisher, "GreenMedInfo," but they do raise some interesting questions.

As some of you may remember, my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer last year. She'd never smoked, nor lived in a home with smokers, so her oncologist told her the cause of her cancer developing was likely not genetic, but environmental.

Clearly there's more than genes involved. Given my limited information, it now seems that whether or not we will develop a cancer during our lifetimes almost seems to come down to "the luck of the draw."

I just read that the US Supreme Court has struck down the ability for any company to "patent" genes, a situation which had come to light when Angelina Jolie had her double mastectomy.

I'm delighted with the news!

US Supreme Court: Corps Can't Own Genes

And since one company can't have sole rights, then the cost of the testing should come down, I hope.